Woody Cain

When Charlotte FC takes on Inter Miami on Sept. 13, they’ll do it without coach Dean Smith, who’s been suspended for one match by Major League Soccer. The league has parked Smith for accumulating too many yellow cards – or formal warnings from referees. Charlotte is on an eight-match winning streak.Smith is in England for his son’s wedding.

Cabarrus County has a new manager. The board of commissioners has unanimously appointed Kelly Sifford to the post on an interim basis. She replaces Sean Newton, who was fired last month.

The Rowan County Health Department is warning residents about an uptick in whooping cough. Also known as pertussis, whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory illness that can cause serious issues in people of all ages, especially infants and those with compromised immune systems.

York County has issued a boil water advisory after a water main break in Fort Mill over the weekend. Repairs have been completed, but the county says water should be boiled for one full minute before being consumed until further notice for only those customers who experienced low water pressure or no water pressure. Water samples have been sent for testing and the advisory will be lifted once those samples are returned with satisfactory results.

Charlotte FC continued a late-season surge for playoff positioning over the weekend, winning their eighth match in a row despite several roster changes. Saturday’s 2-1 win over New England moved The Crown past Nashville into third place in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference with five games left in the regular season with an off weekend coming up. Coach Dean Smith said he’s proud of his team’s effort.

College football comes to uptown Charlotte on Friday. The Duke’s Mayo Classic matches the Charlotte 49ers against Appalachian State. Both teams have new coaching staffs and a lot of new players. Mountaineer coach Dowell Loggains says neither team knows a lot about their opponent."It's about adjusting. It's about, you know, settling your nerves as fast as possible and getting used to it. As soon as they walk in the stadium, it's an NFL stadium, it's the first game this season, they're gonna be juiced up," he said. Portions of Mint Street, Brooklyn Village and Graham Streets are already closed with more streets set to close ahead of the game. Kick off at Bank of America Stadium is at 7 pm.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson along with the state’s Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, are asking the United States Supreme Court to block a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals injunction that forces a South Carolina school to stop its bathroom policy.The emergency application, filed late yesterday, asks the Court to stay the Fourth Circuit’s order requiring a Berkeley County school to allow a biological female student identifying as male to use boys’ restrooms. The South Carolina Department of Education is required to withhold 25 percent of state school funding from districts violating the policy.The case had been before the Supreme Court in 2017, but the court sent it back to the lower courts. Then, in 2021, the high court declined to take up the case for a second time, leaving the 4th Circuit ruling in place.